Only days until we’ll know what numbers the Mets will issue to their new personnel, and there’s a lot of it. That includes at least 12 guys on the 40-man roster yet to have been issued a number, and at least a dozen more with spring training invites. And that doesn’t include the couple of brand-name goods they may still buy this spring, Brandon Lyon (frequently but not always, 38) and Michael Bourne (most recently, 24 with Atlanta).

Let’s start with a few good guesses. Shawn Marcum wore 18 last year with Milwaukee. That gives me an uncomfortable 10-year flashback to Jeff D’Amico, like Marcum a veteran junkball pitcher via Milwaukee, recovering from an injury, wearing 18. But that would require Tim Teufel changes his shirt (could Ruben Tejada surrender 11 in a chain reaction?) Marcum also has some equity in 28, although that belongs to Daniel Murphy. 38 would work as long as they don’t issue it to Lyon should he come aboard.

Frank Francisco wore No. 50 throughout his career, but the Mets did not issue that last year and Francisco took 48. We could see him switch this year.

John Buck, acquired in the Dickey deal, wears 14 most frequently but with that retired here could wear 4 or if he dares, 44. Travis D’Arnaud appears to prefer 16. Zach Wheeler, as per his Twitter handle, appears to prefer 45, which is available. Omar Quintanila is back on a minor league deal and could reacquire No. 6, and Josh Satin could take back No. 3, but no guarantees for either. Finally there’s the complicated case of Pedro Feliciano, who’s worn 55, 39 and 25 in his Met stints. Who knows what they give him this time. His coming back to the Mets without having appeared at all for the Yankees and their arrogant general manager is about the greatest thing ever. I’m less certain he’s got anything left, but that’s what the invite is for.

The rest of the new guys are more or less unknown quanties and likely to take what’s given them.

The MLB Draft begins tonight at 6 p.m., and thanks to Brian Cashman’s fetish for abused lefthanders, the Mets have the 44th pick as well as the 13th (the first one they earned on merit). I don’t pretend to have any idea who the Mets will wind up with — the so-called “experts” appear not to either — but purely for rooting purposes there’s a UConn outfielder named George Springer I have my eye on. I’m just as excited to see who the 44th pick will be: Such so-called “compensation” selections have netted the Mets guys including Bobby Jones (No. 36 overall in 1991, compensation for Darryl Strawberry) and David Wright (38th pick 2001 draft, compensation for Mike Hampton).

My friend Alex G., who previously blogged about the Mets at Bleeding Orange and Blue, is now looking at this kinda stuff at a new site, Legends of Tomorrow. Check it out!

Enjoyed a cool early-summer night at Big Shea Sunday, watching almost too comfortably through the middle innings until Manny Acosta and his new No. 46 jersey made things uncomfortable. Mets bloggers at the Daily Stache are destined for a similarly dicey negotiation when their Best-Mets-By-Uniform-Number countup reaches its 46th inning. When Oliver Perez is the right answer, it’s time to reevaluate the questions.

Quick note to report the Mets have assigned a few more numbers. Chris Young will wear No. 55, becoming the first non-coach in 55 since Pedro Feliciano recieved it in a trade for Sha
wn Estes. Scott Hairston will wear No. 12 his digits in San Diego last year.

The Mets today bought a whole new battery at the Winter Meetings in Orlando: Catcher Ronny Paulino and reliever D.J. Carrasco, both nontendered, and former Pirates. Carrasco is a late bloomer and veteran of four big-league clubs with a goofy delivery and even goofier uni number — 77 with both the Pirates and Diamondbacks. A cursory check turned up no great stories about this odd choice, though it should be noted he was born in 1977 and Pittsburgh, where he began to wear those digits, has a reputation for issuing unusually high numbers to some players. The Mets have never had a 77 despite my plea that they give it to Kazuo Matsui in 2004, which could have changed everything.

Paulino came up with the Pirates wearing No. 56 then 26, and spent the last two seasons wearing No. 29 in Florida. He was busted last summer for PED use and seems to have gotten fat since he was lusted after by a young Omar Minaya back in the oughts, but on the plus side he’d appear a decent selection to platoon with Josh Thole.
The Mets this week also invited infielder Russ Adams, catcher Dusty Ryan, and pitcher Michael O’Connor to camp with minor league deals, and appear to be positioned for a pick or two during the Rule 5 draft. There’s stil a chance — and in my opinion, a good argument — to try and move Carlos Beltran before we endure another season of uncertainty in the outfield, but such a deal seems like a longshot. Reports also suggest the Mets will try and score a starting pitcher — if not this week, then when the unsigned guys get anxious in January — but so far the New Brass seems not to have misled anyone as to their modest goals for the winter.

In the meantime it appears that the Mets careers of Sean Green, Pedro Feliciano, Chris Carter and Henry Blanco are over. We hope maybe Felicano comes back sometime and tries on a fourth uni number — he was 55, 39 and 25 on his way to becoming an unlikely long-tenured and really quite excellent Met. But I don’t much believe in sustainability from short relievers and approve almost whatever churning gets done year to year.

They’re still capable of looking like they might make a run but losing 20 of their last 30 and everything to the godforsaken Diamondbacks smells a lot like the Mets are going to fall short this season. With only hours remaining until the trade deadline I’d be strongly tempted to see what Pedro Feliciano and Frankie Rodriguez would bring back on the trade market, not that I’d expect that kind of vision from Omar (or that another team could be convinced that the $29 million Rodriguez has coming to him is even a fraction of what he’s worth). It might be different were the Mets able to start that run I’ve been talking about for weeks now, but they just haven’t, and I’m afraid it’s over.

The only new personnel so far is Jesus Feliciano, returning to take the place of Jason Bay, who went to the disabled list with a concussion. The Mets also on Friday traded AAA first baseman Mike Jacobs to Toronto for a Player To Be Named Later: It’s hard to believe Jacobs was the opening-day first baseman on this team.

It may not ever come to anything but happened to notice when the Mets today moved to claim lefthanded pitcher Jay Marshall off waivers from the Athletics. Marshall, a true submariner in the Chad Bradford style, continues a trend among Omar Minaya’s Mets teams to include or at least invite a few trick pitchers to camp each year. Marshall this spring will join the lefty-righty siderarm tandem of Pedro Feliciano and Sean Green (and another candidate with an unusual offering, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey). There was Joe Smith and Bradford before that, and guys like Steve Schmoll and Shingo Takatsu were given a shot.

Is this a good thing? I’m not entirely sure. While Feliciano has become one of the Mets’ best weapons vs. rival lefty sluggers and Green and Smith often got grounders when they needed them I’d prefer sometimes they could achieve these successes without also tempting the Mets to try and solve all their problems with matchups and specialists. It can grind games to a halt, for one thing, and all seems so delicate: One specialist springs a leak, and suddenly the whole ship is sinking. We’ve seen it before.

On the other hand, sidearmers are fun to watch when they’re going well and the Mets’ desire to bring these creatures in house indicates some evidence they have a plan, and I like that kind of reassurance.

At any rate, surely we’re in a Golden Age for Met sideslingers. I barely remember a one from my childhood when guys like Kent Tekulve, Elias Sosa and Dan Quisenberry were someone else’s property. David Cone was known to get sideways occasionally, and Jeff Innis was a durable middle-inning submariner for a long stretch, — and there was Jesse –but I’m going blank after that, although I’m sure I’m overlooking a few. Little help?

The Mets announced Friday that they’d signed veteran outfielder Brady Clark to a minor league deal and invited him to Spring Training. This would be the second Met go-round for Clark who arrived from the Reds in September 2002 as the fourth and final piece in the Shawn Estes trade.

Now, Shawn Estes may have been a rotten Met himself, but his trade brought a few decent talents to the organization: In addition to Clark, who stuck around only long enough to participate in the horrid month of September 2002 (but went on to have better success elsewhere), the Mets gathered in outfield reserve Raul Gonzalez, and a skinny lefty, Pedro Feliciano, who, depending upon how you count these things, is the Met with longest tenure heading to the 2008 season. To be technical, Jose Reyes is the longest with continuous service. Feliciano since 2002 was cut and reacquired not once but twice: He was claimed on waivers by the Tigers following that season but released and re-signed by the Mets the following spring. Feliciano would later be sold to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks and re-signed again prior to the 2006 season. That trade also produced a minor league pitched, Elvin Andujar, who went nowhere.

But about Clark. Righthanded hitter with a decent glove and a chance to be the guy who replaces Damian Easley or pressures Olmedo Saenz for a reserve role. Wore No. 15 for his first go-round, so will be shopping for new digits now. Saenz by the way is listed as suiting up in No. 91, as indicated by the comment section in the below post.

As threatened, the Mets recalled the six men below in time for yesterday’s rainout. New arrivals Kelly Stinnett and Phillip Humber were dressed in Nos 36 and 49, respectively. (Thanks to readers Lou and Michael for the updates). Both numbers have been issued previously this season: Henry Owens wore 36 during his brief callup and 49 belonged briefly to Roberto Hernandez before he could pry 39 from Pedro Feliciano. In addition to being the digits favored by knuckleballers, 49 tends to be a relief pitcher’s number for the Mets — you have to go back until 1984 and Walt Terrellto find a regular starter who wore it, though Humber for the short term looks destined for spot-starts and relief work anyway.

Stinnett, who wore 33 for the Mets in 1995, becomes the latest member of the two-time Met club.

The following is excerpted from a note from reader Rory:

Willie Montañez — I know the ñ is definitely part of his family name, but I’m not entirely sure whether the team sewed the tilde on too. Somebody told me that the Mets only started sewing names on their uniforms in 1979, and so that left only part of that season where Willie could have sported a tilde as a Met. Are there any pictures to prove it one way or the other?

Though we doubt we’d find a tilde if we found a picture (the ’79 Mets, like this site, were lazy with that kinda thing), we haven’t found a picture. Can anyone help?

Still no word on what number Shawn Green turns up in, but MBTN reader Michael points out it probably won’t be 25 as foolishly suggested below (that’s Pedro Feliciano’s these days). His guess: 9, for the odds-on favorite to be released to make room for him, Ricky Ledee, but we’ve thought it over and suddenly realize it could be 20, for Victor Diaz, the guy whose place on the 40-man roster disappeared overnight because of Green.

Green by the way will become the 45th Met this year, and the 797th of all time. While the 1967 record of 54 different players is probably safe, there’s a strong possibility that the all-time Metland population reaches 800 sometime in September. Back in 2003, when Tom Glavine became the 700th Met, we ran the following chronology of Milestone Mets and their Debut Dates: